The present invention relates to an improvement for use in conjunction with conventional container-labeling machines.
State of the art labeling machines have been used for some time to apply labels to containers. These machines operate at relatively high speeds and are well suited to apply labels to round containers. For example, a labeling machine manufactured and sold by Jagenberg of Canada Limited designated the Jagenberg Solar Labeler is designed to handle a variety of bottle sizes at speeds up to a thousand bottles per minute. This labeler is capable of applying any combination of labels such as front and back, body and neck, full wrap neck and aluminum foil overlap.
The Jagenberg labeler, and other machines of similar design, cannot be used effectively to label multi-faced containers because the star-wheel feed mechanism of the labeler does not index the containers before applying labels. Thus, there is no assurance that the labels will be applied with the proper orientation on the flat faces of the container. Accordingly, labels may be misoriented, as shown in FIG. 1. The method and apparatus of the present invention allows for the proper placement of labels on multi-faced containers, as shown in FIG. 2.
For purposes of this disclosure "indexing" means orienting a multi-faced container into a specific position.